


joys of american fast food

by VillainousTalking (rainbowshoes)



Series: pray for the wicked [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (always), (but not the mcs), Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Tony Stark Has A Heart, american fast food, mcdonalds, self-harm scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 20:30:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15848805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshoes/pseuds/VillainousTalking
Summary: Bucky's never eaten fast food. No, really. Well, not American style. Tony would have taken him to Burger King instead, but they closed at eleven, and it's almost midnight, so McDonald's it is.





	joys of american fast food

**Author's Note:**

  * For [okayantigone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/okayantigone/gifts).



It stinks like grease, dirty mop water, sweat, and something else that Bucky can't name. That's really enough to put him off this entire excursion altogether, but Tony doesn't look perturbed in the slightest. Bucky can't really call this place a restaurant, no matter that it's cleaner and better lit than half the diners he's eaten at in his arguably too-long life. It doesn't even stink as bad as some of them, really, especially the one place in Bishkek. There's just something about it that rubs him the wrong way. 

They don't really have to wait in line once people realize Tony Stark is there. Bucky has, at least somewhat, gotten used to that. Most people don't recognize him, and he just jokes that he's Tony's bodyguard when they're out. It tends to make Tony laugh, and Happy gets jealous about it, which just makes Tony laugh even more. For a guy who could pretty much buy or take over the world, Bucky's sure the man isn't nearly happy enough. He does stupid shit to make Tony laugh when he can. 

The girl behind the counter has pink, purple, and blue hair and it's shaved on one side of her head. Her thick eyeliner reminds Bucky almost uncomfortably of the black shit he smears under his eyes when he's out in the field and he needs to see long-range for a shot. Tony doesn't seem bothered in the slightest, though at least this girl isn't fawning over him and flirting incessantly. And the sad fact is, Bucky's more used to people jumping for Tony's attention than he is when they all but ignore Tony, so her attitude puts him off, makes his shoulders tense and his hands curl into fists by his sides.

“Yeah, gimme like, one of pretty much everything and three double cheeseburgers,” Tony says to the girl. He isn't looking at her either, Bucky notices. “We’ll come back for McFlurries and shit when we're done with the rest.”

“Sure,” the girl says, and Bucky notes her bored tone and the slight eye-roll. “It's like, a half-hour til close, though, so I'm gonna break down the machine in like fifteen minutes.” She's steadily tapping the screen in front of her, and Bucky watches the total rise. 

“Leave it up til close,” Tony says, flashing her his media smirk. 

“How about no,” she says, raising one eyebrow. It makes Bucky want to smash his fist into the counter. He doesn't, but that's mostly because Tony hasn't eaten all day - he knows, he asked FRIDAY - and that sort of shit would just cause trouble. She finishes punching in their order and gives Tony the ridiculous total. Bucky is familiar enough with the way these places work to know how cheap the food is, even if he's never actually eaten any of it. Tony waves his phone over the little payment thing - Bucky has no idea what it's called - and they collect the receipt with their order number printed on it. 

Thankfully the place isn't crowded. It's nearly midnight on a Tuesday, so that isn't terribly surprising, but Bucky leads them toward a good seat anyway. He's careful in his choice, leaving them with a perfect view of the entrance and another exit on the side of the restaurant closest to them, an easy and quick route to said exit, and he gives Tony the wall so he can put his back to it, even if it leaves Bucky feeling exposed and increases the chances that someone might notice Tony and come over to the table. Bucky can usually scare away most people with nothing more than a look, something else Tony finds endlessly hilarious. 

Once they're seated, Tony grabs his phone. He's probably continuing whatever work he was doing before Bucky dragged him away from his workshop, but that's fine, really. At least he isn't holed up in there anymore and he'll eat something soon. Not a minute later, Bucky can hear shouting through the wall beside them.

“They're complaining about the order,” Bucky says with a slight smirk. He doesn't particularly care. They came for food and Tony is paying for it. Whatever the problem is, they'll get over it.

“Shut the fuck up, Gary!” That is definitely the counter girl, even though she's shouting and angry now. “It's fucking Stark and his creepy ass boyfriend, okay? Just cook the fucking food!” Something slams loudly, then the sound of the fryers gets louder and the smell of cooking meat grows stronger. Bucky can still hear a man grumbling, but the words themselves aren't distinguishable anymore. 

“Hey, you're the one who wanted McDonald's,” Tony says, drawing Bucky's attention to him. “The joys of American fast food are plenty, but I personally prefer Burger King. Too bad it closes at eleven or I might have argued for it.”

“If you didn't want it, you'd’a ordered some fancy shit and had it delivered,” Bucky says, and Tony flashes a grin at him, caught out in his not-quite lie. “What's with the girl, huh?”

Tony snorts. “Freddie is...well, Freddie. Look, this place is walking distance from the tower. I come here sometimes, usually right before close. She's really not as grouchy as she seems.” Tony stops, looks toward the front of the restaurant thoughtfully, then eyes Bucky. “Well, she might be a little pissed at me.” He grins broadly. “I teased the shit out of her for being cute when her girlfriend was here the last time I showed up. Pretty sure I just embarrassed her, though.”

Bucky snorts. “You embarrass everyone given half a chance.” Tony nods very seriously, then breaks out in a grin once more. “Why’d you get everything, anyway? What do you usually get?”

“Cheeseburgers,” Tony answers automatically, and really, that's not much of a surprise. Then he shrugs and his focus shifts to his phone once more. “You've never had anything like this, so I figured you could figure out if you liked any of it. Besides, I fed Rogers for years. I know how much you guys eat.”

Their conversation dies nearly instantly after that. Bucky knows he doesn't have to remind Tony that his serum injection wasn't quite the same as Steve’s, that his metabolism isn't quite as fast and his healing factor isn't either. But it doesn't really matter in the end. All the bullshit Erskine was trying to sell Steve about the serum making bad men worse and good men great was just that - bullshit. It doesn't do anything but enhance what is already there physically. Red Skull was fucked up thanks to an unfinished serum, not his inherent evil. If the good versus evil thing was true, Bucky would have been a monster long before HYDRA found him after the train incident. 

Bucky tenses when he hears footsteps behind him. He very carefully uses the reflection in the glass across from them to see who’s approaching. It's just the counter girl - Freddie. She's got two trays, one in each hand. She drops them unceremoniously on the table between them, making Tony jerk his phone back to avoid getting smacked. 

“Eat and get out,” she snaps. 

“How's your girlfriend, Freddie?” Tony asks with a wide, teasing smile. He reaches for one of the large containers of fries first and pops one in his mouth. He looks at Bucky. “ _ Fries first, trust me. They get gross when they're cold _ .” The lightly accented Russian still startles him when he hears it spoken, but he nods anyway and takes a couple for himself from the other container. They're, surprisingly, really good. 

“Oh, you speak Russian now?” Freddie asks, rolling her eyes. “Figures you and  murder boy here would be plotting your secret mission shit in a McDonald's at midnight.” She crosses her arms over her chest, and Bucky catches sight of various scars across the insides of her forearms. It makes him tense for reasons he can't explain. 

“Sure,” Tony says casually. “Plotting world domination is hard work, you know. Gotta start somewhere. Murder boy here is my super secret assassin. Don't tell, ‘kay?” Freddie rolls her eyes with an annoyed huff. When she reaches up to tuck some of her hair behind her ear, Bucky sees fresh cuts along the top of her left arm. He stares at the table instead. 

“Whatever.” Freddie turns to leave, but pauses and looks over her shoulder. “Oh, and she dumped me, by the way. Today. Right before work, so I couldn't talk to her about any of it.”

“Well that fucking sucks,” Tony mutters. He shoves more fries into his mouth as Freddie nods tightly and continues on her way back to the counter. Tony sighs and nudges Bucky's tray. “You'll wanna eat most of this pretty quick. Tastes like shit if it gets cold.”

Bucky leaves the fries and grabs one of the boxes. He opens it and finds a large burger with cheese. It takes only a few bites to eat the entire thing, and it isn't bad, not at all. He moves on to another sandwich, chicken this time. It's all he can do to eat it as quickly as he can. Across from him, Tony finishes off one cheeseburger and unwraps a second. 

“Someone hurt that girl,” Bucky finally says, unable to stop thinking about it. They're in the middle of the city. It shouldn't be that dangerous, especially while the girl is at work. 

Tony surprises him by nodding, though. He doesn't look like that was news to him. “She does it to herself. Part of the reason we came here, specifically. There's another McDonald's that's open all night, you know? But here is where Freddie is. You punched through the goddamn wall the other day just because you needed an outlet. The cutting? That's hers. My binges in my workshop? That's mine. Far from healthy, but that's what we've got. Wanted you to understand that there are plenty of other fucked up people in this world, and most of them aren't even mass murderers like the pair of us.”

“But...why?” Bucky shoves some little round brown thing in his mouth. It's chicken, he thinks. Not much like any chicken he’s ever had before, but still not bad.

“Dunno what Freddie's reason is,” Tony says honestly. “I don't ask. Not my place to judge her. Just like I don't judge you when you need to destroy some shit to feel a bit better.”

Hearing that now, in this context, is so much easier than it was when Tony first tried to tell him it was okay that Bucky tore his entire room apart and broke everything in there in a fit of rage. At that time, Bucky just felt slimy and guilty and figured Tony was lying through his teeth to try and make Bucky feel better or something. Or maybe so Bucky wouldn't hurt him instead. Because no matter what Tony says or believes, that's still always a possibility. But now...now Bucky can sort of see a difference, maybe. He still feels bad for doing it - that won't change no matter what Tony says - but maybe he can take Tony up on the offer to break shit in a more controlled environment next time. 

He tries another sandwich and barely manages to swallow the one bite, so he sets that one aside to grab something different instead. It doesn't take him long to at least taste most of the food on the trays. Tony finishes off his second burger and eyes the third, but shrugs and doesn't touch it. Bucky finishes the different burger he's eating, and this one seems like two sandwiches smashed together with the bread in the middle of it, and he waits for Tony to do or say something. 

“Finished?” Tony asks. Bucky only nods. “Oreo or M&M?” 

Since he's been at the tower, Bucky has had both of those. He likes them, too. “Oreo,” he answers after a moment of deliberation with himself. It's harder to make choices like that, really. He's too used to analyzing every option and benefit and consequence and trying to think eight steps ahead of everyone else. The simple things trip him up more often than not, but Tony has been pushing him to make those choices in less than five seconds and, surprisingly, it helps. He doesn't have to worry about something going wrong with the things Tony asks him, not those kinds of things at least.

“Okay, then. We'll grab some McFlurries and head out.” Tony stands and Bucky watches as he pulls his wallet from his pocket. He tucks some bills into a crumpled envelope and walks around Bucky to get to the counter. Bucky follows just a step behind and to Tony's right, unable to stop himself from keeping an eye out.

At the counter, Tony asks Freddie for two oreo McFlurries. Despite her threat earlier shut down the machine, it still works. She makes them quickly and slides them over with spoons sticking from the top. Tony passes one off to Bucky and keeps the other for himself. Tony slides the envelope across the counter. 

“ _ I won't throw away your trash, too _ ,” Freddie says. She speaks better Russian than Tony. It takes Bucky by surprise.

“Ooo, someone's been keeping secrets,” Tony says with a laugh. “ _ Open it when you go for your smoke break. Keep it or don't. Up to you. _ ”

“ _ Is this some kind of proposition _ ?” Freddie asks, a sneer on her face. “Figured murder boy there would be plenty for even you, Stark.”

Tony just laughs. “I don't pay for sex and other people pay me to talk about my actual sex life, sorry Fred.” Tony eats a mouthful of his ice cream. “Consider that a consolation for losing your Daphne.”

Bucky gets that reference. He's watched that cartoon, even if he doesn't remember when or where right this moment. He nods to Freddie. “ _ You speak very well _ .” He lets the rougher cadence of his voice carry the words in the noticeably Siberian accent. He kills his teacher in his mind yet again. 

“Mom was a Russian bride,” she says with a shrug. “Bought and paid for. She taught me so she'd have someone to talk to.  _ Thanks _ .  _ You speak very creepy _ .”

Tony laughs. “You should hear him speak Italian. Totally different. Anyway, we’ll let you close up. Night!” Tony waves cheerfully and turns on his heel. Bucky turns on his heel and stalks after Tony. Out on the sidewalk, Tony looks at Bucky. “Next time, we'll go to Burger King.” He smiles a bit and keeps walking, so Bucky follows, barely paying his ice cream any attention at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> @narcissae - thanks for the prompt, love ♥


End file.
